China's home prices continue to stabilize

BEIJING, May 18-- China's property market in major cities continued to stabilize after authorities implemented a string of measures to contain price hikes, according to an official survey released Thursday.

Of the 70 large and medium-sized cities surveyed, 30 cities witnessed a slower price rise year on year in April, up from 24 in March, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

A total of 31 cities witnessed a month-on-month price decline or a slower price uptick in April, said the NBS.

Among the 15 first-tier and second-tier cities surveyed, nine cities saw a month-on-month price decline or flat prices in April and five saw price gains of less than 1.1 percentage points.

In Beijing, new residential house prices rose 0.2 percent month on month in April, while Shanghai prices fell 0.2 percent. House prices in Shenzhen, a southern metropolis neighboring Hong Kong, remained flat.

"Prices of newly-built homes in 15 major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen continued to stabilize in April on the back of targeted local government policies," said NBS statistician Liu Jianwei.

Since October last year, the Chinese government has implemented a slew of measures to cool fast growth in housing prices, including restrictions on home purchases and increased minimum down-payment requirements.

The latest round of restrictions came after more than two years of policy easing, starting with relaxation of purchase restrictions in 2014 and fueled by the pro-growth policies, including interest rate cuts.

Many third-tier and fourth-tier cities have excess supply in their real estate markets.